The Apple Never Falls Far From The Tree
by Darcillian Snake
Summary: On hiatus. Really, it's bad. Don't read it. I'm getting around to rewriting it, but I won't post anything for quite sometime.


The Apple Never Falls Far From The Tree

Chapter One

While most students were down at the Great Hall for dinner, a certain red-headed female was in the Library studying, although it might be more appropriate to say she was **attempting** to study. Her head sagged so low her chin was almost resting on her chest, her eyelids dangerously close to being closed. The book in front of her was a rather imposing volume of potions (the cover was very faded and one wouldn't be able to read the title unless they peered for a long matter of minutes) opened to near the middle. Pieces of parchment were scattered on her table, some balled up, some written on and smudged, along with a bottle of ink and a quill. The quill, black and gold, was dangling from her slender fingers; it dropped silently as she slumped forward, giving away to sleep.

_There was smoke everywhere, destruction everywhere, and, worst of all, dark-robed Death Eaters everywhere. She stumbled through a thick fog, across over-turned rocks, falling once or twice; every time she fell she crawled back up quickly. A few scrapes didn't matter. She had to get away. _

"_Over here!"_

_The voice rang out somewhere behind her, causing fear to boil in her throat and a small whimper she had been holding in to burst through her lips. She turned a corner—  
__--and tripped over something. _

_No. Someone.  
__Someone with hair the same shade as hers.  
__Her eyes grew wide, tears gathering in them, and she stopped to turn the body over._

"_No…F-Fred?" She would have stayed longer, she would have wept, she would have clung to her brother's body, but she heard footsteps. She stumbled back up, tearing off at the pace she had formerly been running at. It was all happening too fast. It wasn't fair! He hadn't done anything. He shouldn't have died—  
__Yet again, she fell, this time skidding to a stop in a crumpled heap at the base of a house, or something that used to be a house. Now…now there wasn't much left.  
__And they were all gone.  
__They were all dead. _

Ginny Weasley awoke with a shudder. She dropped her head in her hands, taking deep breaths to calm down. None of it had happened. They weren't dead.

_Not yet,_ a voice in her head whispered. Ginny fell back to silently shaking, an obvious sign that she had finally started crying. She might have carried on in this manner for some time if she hadn't looked outside, starting when she realized she was almost late for her date with Seamus. _Oh, god. I must be a wreck now,_ she thought ruefully, whipping out her wand and muttering a spell. _I'd better not be red and puffy anymore._

She gave a sigh as she collected her quill from the floor (she ignored the ink-stain it had left when it fell tip-first) and jammed it in her bag, following suit with the parchment that was still good; she debated leaving the book, but her conscious told her to take it and finish the homework later tonight. She added the weight to her bag as well, swung it over her shoulder, and exited.

_The threat of a war was making everyone's lives hell. You don't who you can trust, who's leaking information. Everyone's on their tippy-toes, just waiting for him to make a move. But, he hasn't yet. He's been completely silent, making no move to do anything except a few murders of Muggles. Nothing to even harm the Wizarding World. Why! God, it's so frustrating. What's he waiting for? There couldn't be a better time for him to strike. Or…_

_Well, what if he's just waiting for things to quiet down,_ Little Voice interrupted.

_Oh, come on. How could we settle down when history is about to repeat itself? _

Ginny was deep in her thoughts, barely realizing that she was arguing with herself, when someone hailed her.

"Oi! Gin!"

She turned, smiling at her brother. "'Lo, Ronnikins." She hadn't forgotten what her brothers (mainly the twins) called him, and didn't let him escape the torture of her using it as well.

Ron, however, chose to ignore the nickname and instead inquired as to where she was going.

"Off to meet Seamus." She mumbled, knowing he didn't like her dating his fellow peer. She changed the subject before he could say anything. "Say, have you talked to Fred recently?"

He was caught off-guard and raised an eyebrow at her. "Yeah, a few days ago. Why?"

Ginny waved a dismissing hand at him, feeling relief pass through her. "No reason, no reason. Just curious." With that burden off her shoulders (but not quite off her mind) she chatted idly with Ron as they headed down towards the Gryffindor Common Room; Ginny, of course, would head to an empty classroom with Seamus when she dropped Ron off, but there was no need for him to know that.

She looked sideways at her brother. "No, Ron, Blaise Zabini is not secretly in love with you, no matter what Lavender said." She looked like she might have said more, but she stopped abruptly, mouth open, staring at something up ahead. Ron turned to ask what was wrong, but when she put a hand over his mouth, he followed her eyes and nearly choked. There was a short silence before Ginny spoke. "Seamus Finnigan, what the bloody hell are you doing?"

There was a clatter as Seamus and a black-haired girl toppled over, crashing into a suit of armor and falling to the floor, landing on top of each other; Seamus jumped up, flattening his hair and looking frantically at the two Weasleys. "I was, uh, just, um…that is to say, we were, ah—" He tried to stuttered out something. Ginny took the last three steps in one leap, storming over to him, absolutely seething. "How could you?"

"No, Ginny! It's not what it looks like, I swear!"

She glared at him, tears threatening to spill for the second time that night, and gave a bark of laughter that was devoid of any humor. "Oh, so you mean her tongue _accidentally_ got caught in your throat when you _accidentally_ pinned her against the wall?"

Seamus looked around him as if he needed to find an exit; he was probably right, knowing the supposed Weasley temper. Instead of making a run for it, he instead said weakly, "Yes?"

Ginny shook her head, nose flaring. "How **dare** you! And with her?" She pointed wildly at the person on the floor. Upon closer inspection, Ron—he had been sticking in the shadows, uncomfortable with the idea of barging into his little sister's problems, remembering what had happened the last time he did that—realized that the girl was Lavender. His attention snapped back to Ginny and Seamus when a loud POP! echoed through the halls. Had she just--? Despite the seriousness of the situation, he couldn't help but grin when he realized Ginny had slapped Seamus. Twice. He followed quickly after the blur of robes that were his sister as they stormed off. Lavender was already gone, but Seamus was left standing there, gaping at her retreating back.  
Ginny ran to the common room, not thinking to watch for anyone that might get her in trouble for the act. When she got inside, she let off her anger with a frustrated yell. Anyone who hadn't yet noticed her fury when she stormed in was definitely aware of it now; a First Year splashed a drink down his front when he jumped.

Harry, sprawled on a couch next to Hermione,blinked up at her."Something wrong?"

Ginny sighed, looking at the two. "Seamus. He was with _Lavender._"

"Er. What happened?" Nearly an hour later, when Ginny was finally finishing telling him what happened, Harry wished he had asked for an edited version of her rant.

"…so I stop at the bottom of the stairs, staring at them with their hands in each others pants and her tongue down his throat! Couldn't they at least gone somewhere private to try and go at it?" Ginny huffed and sat down next to Ron, blinking at her brother. "When did you get here?"

He snorted. "Around the time you were telling us Seamus wore boxers and not briefs. Thanks for disproving the rumor that he was the one that stole Harry's, by the way."

Ginny's face reddened, but she turned to Harry, her voice much calmer than it had been. "How could he do this to me?"

Harry looked highly uncomfortable; Hermione saved him from having to answer. "He's just an idiot, Gin. Don't worry about it."

"Who's an idiot?"

The four of them stiffened as the subject of their conversation spoke. To their surprised, it was Ginny who answered. "Oh, we were just talking about guys who cheat on their girlfriends with other Gryffindors. You wouldn't have to worry about that, though, would you, Shay-shay?" Ginny gave him a sweet smile and stood up, patting his head. "You were just catching her with your lips when she fell." And with that, she got up and left, heading to her dormitory to finish her studying. She fell asleep after only ten minutes.

Draco Malfoy turned his head to look at the slumbering body beside him, twirling a piece of brown hair around his finger. He sighed, dropping his hand and snuggling closer. "Hurr unph ing mi" was the sleepy reply he got. "Of course I am, love." He whispered, staring up at the top of the bed. It was going to start soon. Someone told him what happened, and he was going to have to go to work soon.  
_I just have to be patient._

That was the key. Patience.

He smiled.

A/N: I really like Seamus, and it was hard to decide to make him the cheating kind. Although I like picturing him as a more one-girl-at-a-time type person, I can also see him as doing something like this.

This is my first attempt at anything longer than 300 words. I thought up the storyline some time ago, but I only recently decided to make something of it. I hope it turns out as well as it is in my head, where it's only half-formed. And yes, I do realize that the sixth book just came out, but this particular story would not work if I were to set it after HBP.

And if any of you are wondering if this going to be Harry/Ginny at some point: No (I despise them as a couple), but it…involves that particular pairing.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on what I have so far. I'm going to be working on the next chapter or two soon, probably in the next few days. I just need to get organized and stuff, which is something I'm dreadful at. I'm a little mad that this is so short, but I guess it's good start.

Disclaimer: I suppose I have to put one of these thingummies in here. I don't own Harry Potter, although I do wish I owned Draco Malfoy. –fangirl scream-


End file.
